


Art of the Heart

by fringeperson



Series: A Creation [3]
Category: Neko no Ongaeshi | The Cat Returns
Genre: Don't copy to another site, F/M, I had no idea what I was doing when I wrote this and I know better now, Old Fic, but I'm not going to deny its existance just because it's old and bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:48:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27445156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fringeperson/pseuds/fringeperson
Summary: Alternated ending number 2, and set more immediately after A Creation.Happier ending, that politely fades to black.~Originally written in 0'7
Relationships: Baron Humbert von Gikkingen/Yoshioka Haru
Series: A Creation [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2005096
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I warn you again, this is Very Old Writing - and I haven't changed anything except a couple of typos.

"I  _ like _ this one!" Toto said loudly, drawing the attention of the girl and figurine as he cackled and cawed, laughing at the world in general, but particularly at fat cat beside him.

Haru wandered closer to her friends to see which picture had captured their attentions. "Oops," she said. "I'd forgotten about _Rehearsal for a Duel_." It was for sale, one of the very few she had done that was. It was of two men pretending to fight, or at least, that was how it had begun – someone had said something at some point, and the duellists faces were no longer the calm masks that they had once been, rather, they were contorted with rage.

The fighters were men, but to anyone who knew Muta and Toto, there was a _definite_ resemblance. Haru had even put Toto in the tree, mocking Muta who was hissing up from beneath… it was very obviously her two friends fighting, in two different shapes. She hadn't meant to have the fight so very far in, just beginning, but it had become a later moment, and the duellist resembling the crow had the upper hand, being of a slimmer physique than his opponent.

"Well, I'm sorry Toto, but it's already been sold," Haru said, pointing to the little red sticker on the panel that detailed all the intricacies of the work.

"That's all right Haru, I'll just carry the memory of it with me forever," the crow assured her, a smile crooked on his beak.

"Excuse me Miss Haru," a crackling male voice called out from the next hall over, causing everyone to turn and look.

"Oh, hey Joe," Haru replied, smiling at the pimple-ridden and ever-so-slightly nerdy guy who was the guard on duty for the exhibition. "Want me out of here now?" she asked; moving so that he wouldn't be able to see Toto, or the Baron in her arms.

"If you wouldn't mind," he said. "And could you take the cat with you? I don't want to have to explain to any of your classmates that your pet messed up their work just because you forgot to hold the door for it."

"No problem Joe," said the artist heading for the closest exit, Toto and Muta close behind her, the Baron still in her arms.

"Oh, Miss Haru, I was wondering… that little portrait of the two cats in love…" the guard said, running a large hand through mousy curls.

"What about it?"

"How much do you want for it?" the older guy asked all in a rush.

"For the last time, it's not for sale Joe, I don't care how much of your father's money you're willing to give me for it. It's a present for a very dear friend of mine. I'm sorry," Haru said, collecting the small picture from the wall and taking it with her out the door.

"That's not allowed!" he called after her.

"It's my work, and I'll put it back in the morning. I'm not sure that I trust you with it," explained Haru, making sure that her friends were out the door before she closed it.

"I take it that he has made several offers for the miniature?" the Baron asked as they all walked to the residency where Haru was staying… well, Haru and Muta walked. Toto flew and Baron was now riding on Haru's shoulder.

"Yes," Haru said, barely able to see the painting by the street lights as she neared the door. " _His Kitten_ is very popular, with everyone, but Joe was raised with money, so he thinks he can buy everything that he wants, it's been difficult getting him to understand that this time, he can't have it."

"His kitten?" Muta asked. He sat down beside her feet while she unlocked the door.

"That's the name of this picture I painted for the Baron," Haru said, showing fat cat and bird as they made themselves at home in her habitat. "Everything has to have a title," she added, rolling her eyes. It was obvious that she didn't much care for putting titles to things.

"Oh, that's lovely," Toto said, genuinely touched by the emotion he saw between the figures rendered in the pigments.

"Thank you," answered Haru, passing Muta a tissue. The fat cat was crying, but he seemed surprised to find out.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey there!" Haru called, walking through the arch of the refuge with a picnic basket in hand.

"Haru!" Muta yelled, barrelling out of the Bureau. "HE COVERED IT!" the marshmallow wailed indignantly.

"Huh?" she asked, not understanding. When the Baron left the double doors behind and entered the square, however, realisation dawned. "Oh, my painting."

"HE _COVERED_ IT!" Muta reiterated, still at the top of his lungs.

"Muta, you and Toto help yourselves to the picnic, I'd like a private word with the Baron please," Haru said as she petted the fat cat and dropped the basket beside him. She was looking at the figurine, however.

"Please, come in," he said, going in first.

Seated on the trunk once again, holding a tiny cup of tea between her fingers, Haru sipped delicately before she turned to her host.

"Something upset you?" she asked.

He waved a hand at a sheet on the wall; it was obviously covering a painting. Her painting, she knew. He nodded at her questioning glance and Haru tugged away the cover. She blinked a couple of times.

"That isn't how I painted it," she said at last. The artist stared for a little while longer before she sighed and covered it herself. The young woman knelt properly on the floor in front of the Baron. "It hurts now, doesn't it?"

He moved fast, he didn't want to be afraid of what he was doing, so he did it without letting his mind stop him. He threw his arms around Haru's neck and he started to kiss all of her that he could reach.

Haru felt herself melt in his touch, and fumbled her large fingers over his small form. Then something went _fffffffftt-op!_ Everything felt odd – liquid, but solid, like everything was jelly, only not cold, and it was twisting and pulling itself out of shape, then back into shape again with another _pop!_

Haru checked herself over, making sure that she was still who she was when she walked in – she was still human, completely, so she relaxed and looked up. The first thing she saw was that the drape had come off the painting, and that it was back to normal, the way she had painted it.

The young woman shook her head in amazement at the strangeness of the world and turned from it to see if the Baron was alright. She nearly jumped when she saw him, and gasped audibly when she realised that she was standing straight in his house without her head through the roof. She had failed to notice that she was now only as tall as the Baron was, when she had first checked herself over.

What she had seen instantly was that, standing before her, was not Baron the wooden feline gentleman, but the figure she had painted all those years ago, before she had received her degree, before she had even begun her uni course.

"Baron?" she asked, wanting to be absolutely certain that it really _was_ him.

"Haru?" he returned, looking up at her. There was something in his emerald eyes, like fear and uncertainty and hope all mixed up. "I'm human… I'm alive," he said.

"Still only one foot high," Haru pointed out, but she couldn't keep the smile from her face. What did it matter that they were small? They could be together now! She rushed him, as he had her, and wrapped her arms about his neck as she had done when he came to save her from the Cat Kingdom.

"Do you take me to be your loving wedded husband, no matter what?" he asked in between kissing her fiercely. There was no way they were going to find a clergyman that would be able to marry them, so the Baron decided that he would do.

"Yes," she answered succinctly, kissing him back with all her own passion. "Take me as your wife?" she asked, almost unable to get the sentence out she was so busy doing what she had dreamt of for so long.

The Baron swept her up in his arms and, still kissing her everywhere, took her to his barely used bedroom, where he dumped her on the bed.

"Oh yes," he said, covering her body with his as he leant over her and kissed her again. "I now declare you _mine_."

Haru slipped his trousers off while he removed her shirt, and she wrapped her arms around him, holding herself off the bed just a little as he dealt with her bra. She took the opportunity to whisper in his ear: "Except for when you're mine," and she felt him chuckle. She kissed him again.


End file.
